State Health Insurance Programs Play Important Role in Medicare Part D Education

Confused about Medicare Part D Choices? Contact your State's SHIP Program for Individualized help with information provided here by SHIPUSA.org.

Every state plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands maintains a state-level agency to provide counselling and information to education consumers about Medicare Part D and other health insurance concerns. Called by different names in various states, the "SHIP" or "SHIIP" programs in each state all support their state's network of community-based programs to provide locally accessible counseling and enrollment assistance services to Medicare beneficiaries. This site provides stat by state contact information for all SHIP programs, nationwide. 

SHIP programs nationwide have an important role in providing one-on-one counseling and community education to hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries about new choices and benefits under the new Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, as required by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). Prior to this, SHIPS helped educate the public about benefits of the Medicare Approved Drug Discount Cards, created by the MMA as a precursor to the new Prescription Drug Plans, including the available help to low-income beneficiaries.

CMS is working closely with state and local SHIP programs to assure that SHIP counselors can provide the information consumers need. Providing locally based, individual counseling remains an important service of SHIPs, along with providing this counseling and education to beneficiaries who are unable to access other channels of information. SHIP will particularly target opportunities to reach out to low-income, dual-eligible, and hard-to-reach populations.

This site lets you find your state's SHIP program quickly and easily. For more about how SHIPs started and how they operate today, you can click here.

SHIPUSA.Org in the news...

On the Federal Government's National Institute on Aging website (nia.nih.gov), families are directed to our site for listing of state SHIP organizations. "The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is a national program offering one-on-one counseling and assistance to people and their families on Medicare. SHIPs provide free counseling and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries on a wide range of Medicare, Medicaid, and Medigap matters. To find your State program, visit www.shipusa.org." -- Long-Distance Caregiving, Chapter 9.

 

In Neurology Today - March 7, 2006 p 6-7 ..."SHIPUSA.org , describes the program and provides a directory of the offices in each state." NeurologyTodayOnline.com

From Knoxviews.com: "For those in need of assistance with their drug plan coverage, here are some resources. State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) This site provides state by state contact information for all SHIP programs, nationwide. Every state plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands maintains a state-level agency to provide counseling and information to education consumers about Medicare Part D and other health insurance concerns."

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